Foreign aid cuts to increase risk of deaths, admits UK

World’s poor to suffer as education and pandemic security hit

- RACHEL SCHRAER, KATE DEVLIN & NICK FERRIS

The UK government has admitted that slashing foreign aid spending will likely see global deaths rise, as it confirmed the cuts will fall disproportionately on women and girls' education and on projects across Africa.

Its own assessment of the cuts’ impact said: “Any reductions to health spending risk an increase in disease burden and ultimately in deaths, impacting in particular those living in poverty, women, children and people with disabilities.”

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has set out cuts of £575m in 2025-26. The government is cutting aid spending by 40 per cent in total, from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross National Income by 2027. That is around £6bn, meaning the deepest cuts are still to come.

Spending on health overall is set to drop by 46 per cent from £975m to £527m in 2025-26. This includes health security — the type of work designed to prevent future pandemics. The pot also includes sexual and reproductive health and the Ending Preventable Deaths Support Programme, designed to stop avoidable deaths of women, newborns and children. Both face cuts as yet undefined.

Spending on education, gender and equality will fall by 42 per cent, or £200m, with girls’ education funding specifically almost halving to £186m. That includes the closure of a girls’ education programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which the government said would have “negative impacts on 170,000 children” in post-conflict rural areas.

Spending in Africa overall will fall from £1.6bn to £1.4bn, while spending in Europe will rise slightly.